34-yr-old was poisoned in police custody: CID

FIR lodged by CID reveals that an unidentified person in the Central police station, Ulhasnagar, had killed Sunil Shelke by slipping a toxin in his food, after his arrest

The CID has registered an FIR against an unidentified person in the Central police station in Ulhasnagar, on charges of murdering a man in custody by poisoning him. On Friday, Shantaram Borse, deputy superintendent of CID, registered an FIR against an unknown person in the station. The FIR relates to the mysterious circumstances of 34-year-old Sunil Kathod Shelke’s death last year, while he was behind bars. The CID’s stand contradicts the earlier claim made by Shelke’s brother that the police had thrashed and beaten him and his brother, and that a cop had kicked Shelke on the chest and stomach.

Poisoned: Shelke’s brother had alleged that he had died from police torture, but the CID’s stand contradicts his claim, and attributes his mysterious death to poisoning

The FIR mentions the sequence of events that led to Shelke’s death last year (copy available with MiD DAY). At around 2 pm on April 11 last year, the Ulhasnagar cops had arrested Shelke, a tailor by profession, and his brother Yogesh. The arrest was made on the basis of a complaint lodged on April 5 by Shelke’s wife Aruna and her father Eknath Mhasne, alleging that the two had ill-treated her.

After his arrest, Shelke underwent a medical checkup, and found him to be hale and hearty. At 10.30 pm, after spending eight hours in custody, Shelke started vomiting blood. The officers took him for another medical examination, where he was given medication for acidity. However, his condition worsened, and at 2.10 am, Shelke had to be taken back to the hospital. About half an hour later, he died while undergoing treatment.

In course of their investigations into the death, CID officials concluded that he had been administered poison while he was in police custody. Deputy Commissioner of Police S T Rathod, Assistant Commissioner of Police Mahesh Chimte and Senior Inspector of Police MG Pimpalkar were not available for comment, in spite of several attempts made to contact them.